This Month's Topic: Holiday Cooking with Kids
by Sheah Rarback MS, RD

Sheah Rarback, MS, RD is an assistant professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine and director of nutrition at the university's Mailman Center for Child Development. She frequently discusses the importance of cooking with children when counseling parents.

Why cook with your kids?

The number one reason is that it can be fun! Cooking has other benefits too, and that's what makes it such a great activity for parents and kids to do together. It's an opportunity to teach some nutrition. You can talk about the bright color of vegetables and that it means they have lots of nutrients we need to grow and stay healthy. With older children, talk about the actual nutrients in foods - the fiber and the vitamins A and C in vegetables, or calcium in milk and dairy products. Cooking also teaches kids basic skills. It's important for them to learn that there is more to preparing food than opening a package and using the microwave! Lastly, cooking encourages children to sample and try new foods. And who knows, it may be the beginning of a future career as a chef!

When is a child ready to cook alone?

It depends on the child and how much experience they've had cooking with their parents or other adults. Cooking involves a wide range of skills. It can be anything from fixing a peanut butter sandwich to using the stove to cook a grilled cheese sandwich. It's best for parents to spend time alongside their kids in the kitchen before letting them prepare foods on their own. Parents can start out by taking the lead and gradually sitting back to watch while children do more and more alone. This gives parents a good idea what children can or can't do by themselves.

How is cooking with kids during the holiday season different than at other times of year?

Holidays almost always mean special recipes, foods and meals. It might be anything from making traditional breads and cookies for gifts to planning a dinner menu that includes special foods that are served once a year at the holidays. There's usually family or friends around and an air of festivity that you just don't have at other time of the year. The holidays are a great opportunity for parents to teach children about family food traditions and create new food traditions of their own. Most children have time off from school, and many parents take time off too. So, it's a wonderful time to include children in planning meals and preparing new and special foods together.

How can parents make kids a part of holiday meal planning and preparation?

One of the best places to start is planning holiday meals and choosing new recipes together. Let children begin by going through cookbooks that have colorful pictures. That's the beginning. You also may let them search different recipe Web sites (that you approve ahead of time). Then depending on their age, kids can make up a shopping list, help to shop for the ingredients, and put their recipes together. Setting and decorating the table is fun too. Maybe it's a new table design or collecting things to make a new centerpiece. Have children make place cards or a decorated menu that features their creations, Green Beans ala Laurie or Ben's Broccoli Cheese Casserole. What's important is that kids who are involved feel proud and will want to do it again and again.

1 | 2 | next page